Month: March 2021

What can you watch on TV while having dinner or breakfast? Morning shows? Dramas and soap operas? News? I prefer BBC or Aljazeera. Or Animal Planet. But what actually do we have locally?

I had an opportunity to witness the disaster for quite some days.

While the world is in the 21st century, we are at least a century back. That too in Hijri calendar.

Our dramas and films have only a couple of scripts which are telecasted again and again and again. And you enjoy them every single time with a different taste.

Because there is no learning and no burden on mind. Nothing is like Interstellar, Inception, Fight Club, Lunch Box, etc. where you have to go deep and think to get the story.

Anyway.

Let’s look at ALL the scripts we have.

Script 1:

Love triangle. A confused person, a pakeeza woman and an evil one. The guy will roam from one post to another and in the end will settle with the pakeeza one. The pakeeza one has a very specific role. She will be crying all the time; miserable. If married, she would rather die than be divorced. She will suffer and accept every misery thrown by the pathetic writer. In the end, she will have happiness. Sabr ka phal kinda stuff.

Script 2:

Rich, elite and gentry. The guy, highly successful without any apparent reason, is ready for marriage. He wants to marry A. Parents want to get him married to B. Both A and B are equally shy, good looking, fair and pakeeza. The story will again be of football moving from one post to another until it settles. It is to note that the rich guy is liberal but not liberal. He is conservative but not conservative. He is confused but not confused. Just like he is ultra-rich and we don’t know why. The writer is definitely an arse.

Script 3:

If there is one male protagonist – slim, fair and handsome – then all the female cast will be in love with him. If there is a female protagonist – slim, fair and handsome – then all the male cast will be in love with her. As simple as that. In the end, one wins the trophy based on a knee-jerk script.

Script 4:

Divorce. A woman – divorced or soon-to-be-divorced – will be seen roaming on the roads and in parks and offices. She will suffer, cry and panic. She will lose all her charm and beauty that she had in the beginning of the drama. She will suffer till another guy will come and rescue her. Superman. That superman – slim, fair and handsome – will in the end marry her or will become a very close friend. Close does not mean friends with benefits. But sometimes, the drama hints that way. The message will be clear that women should never get divorced and men shouldn’t worry in any case.

Script 5:

A bad man transforming into a good man through love or religion or both over the series. He can be a murderer or a harasser or a criminal in the beginning of the serial. In the end he will be transformed 180 degrees. The audience will fall in love with him. And if the girl will reject him in the end, she will be a bad woman nonetheless. This script is widely accepted in Pakistan since the 1970s. Ashfaq Ahmad made such dramas. This idea is so worshipped by the country that even the Prime Minister promotes himself along the same lines.

Script 6:

Bad elderly women – phuphos, mamis and saas – throwing tantrums and creating scenes around the script. Blackmailing men. In the end, they all – or at least the major ones – transform and drama ends with all the other above mentioned endings. In the same drama, some good elderly women will be seeing crying all the time.

Script 7:

Sex. This one is part of almost every other script. Even the expressions are horny and lusty in cases. Sometimes incestuous stuff is shown consistently. And the whole drama has this one aspect not for a message or critic or to educate the society; but for sole purpose of rating. Sex sells. Though we don’t accept but yes, it sells here. In morning shows, in news and in dramas.

Script 8 and random:

Love stories of crying. One partner crying and crying and crying till the end of drama. Umera Ahmed stuff.

Misogynist plays with men-in-charge of everything except their emotions.

Property issues. Where the whole cast is trying to snatch a fortune. The one who is not trying, get the fortune in the end,

Nationalism and establishment stuff. Some stuff to keep your goosebums alive. I wrote goosebums. Whatever.

Religion. Whenever a drama is unable to get a grip on the script, religion happens. Miracles. Sufism.

And that’s all.

There may be some scripts – like Indian-copied horror stories – with women as snakes and men as magicians-cum-perverts. Horror story is also based on sex. Nothing else.

There can be some dramas on street life or college life but the script remains intact. Love triangle and misery and tears.

In the end, every single story is the same. Same dilemmas. Same climaxes. Same endings. Everyone is having parties and divorces and properties and extra-marital diggings and stuff. Then another drama. Then another.

I don’t mind parties. Or properties. Or divorces. Or diggings. But that’s not all. And it is not entertainment when it is bogus. Aren’t you tired of these Bermuda-triangles of love, hate and loathing?

If you will dig deep – I mean scripts – every single drama is about sex. This way or that way, it is about sex and unhappiness.

There is no philosophy or intellect involved.

There is no discussion of actual problems.

There is no drama on extremism, intolerance, politics, or even culture and social norms.

There is no drama on real heroes. Nothing historical.

There is no criticism on the prevailing issues, let alone constructive criticism.

Moving forward to awards. The same writers and directors and producers are going to be awarded for showing the exact same stuff again and again. Nothing creative, intellectual or critical wins awards. Followed by speeches of big words.

I don’t know why only Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar is (in)famous. All the writers are doing the same ugly job. Maybe he is a loud-mouth ambassador of the rotten society. And his tone and egoist arrogance. The thing is he is loved. He banging every other journalist with harsh words because he is expected to do that. He does. What else he has? Pathetic scripts and stories.

Maybe the time of intellectualism is over.

Gone are the days of good music. All we have are remixes now. Major hits of Velo Sound Station were remixes. No new good poetry. No new good books. Everything has been sung and written already.

Devolution?

Sometimes I wish they would copy stuff. Make a movie on “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Or copy the content of Rang De Basanti or Swades or Pk. Or make a drama like Bourne, where one of our own Jason Bourne goes rogue. Would be fun.

But we have poor writers who sell patriotism, religion, blasphemy, nationalism, martyrdom, and stuff. They have nothing else to offer. Such content gives them money, cheap fame, and ratings; without an iota of intellect.

Like our morning shows, our dramas are flimsy and lack substance.

Our news – where actual issues are hushed and no one talks about missing people, mutilated dead bodies, dissent, uniformed corruption, etc. – is all about parliamentarians fighting and offering nothing.

Switch off your TV. For news, follow twitter. For entertainment, get Netflix or use other means. Locally, you have nothing but repetitive, mind-numbingly boring and mediocre scrap.

Hence blasphemy. When there is nothing left, there is blasphemy. Always. You can play a little trick and then mock and kill anyone. Mob justice prevails too in certain cases.

But connecting the two – #AuratMarch and Blasphemy – is actually herd-creativity at its best. Low though. But sure.

First of all, ladies, you should be thankful. You are getting unpaid promotion and marketing – on a vast level – for the march; even after the march.

A guy tweeted that men who think Aurat March is against them, is actually against them. True.

What is wrong in the march by the way? It’s a gathering of women in public with a charter and some activities. Why is it so threatening?

Have you even read the charter? Not a single point is wrong or controversial. And even then, you have your right to disagree.

There were banners which were irrelevant and funny. Some were wrong too. So?

“Not all banners.”

“It’s just 1%.”

Women were dancing. There was naach gana. So? Men are fond of naach gana and mujra in our part of the world. They shower money and stuff. But when women were dancing just for themselves and enjoying themselves, they couldn’t bear it. That’s actually being a hypocrite loser.

Women were promoting homosexuality. Well, there are two aspects. If someone was supporting the idea through religion, that is wrong because religion is already defined. Otherwise, it is actually a human trait and a debatable topic. You need to differentiate between the two.

Transgender? To be very honest, we don’t have any space for transgenders anywhere. Not in our laws. Not in our society. Not in our religion. Religion is actually silent on their way of life, marriage, sex, etc. So, there is this forum which publicly talks about transgenders in daylight. Absolutely fine. Commendable, in fact.

Banners? Some were rebuttals. Some were mocking. Some were funny. And some were sharper than a knife. Women from different backgrounds came with different banners. Disagree where you may. But you cannot stop or silence them as there was nothing intimidating, violent, or gory.

French flag? Well, that was not French. Not even close. Have some sense. If stripes would have been horizontal, it could have been an Indian flag! Right? Not all… but all dumb.

Orya and Ansar and stuff? You are twisting and actually replacing words just to impose blasphemy. I don’t know why these men here have a fetish of blasphemy. Even when there is no blasphemy, they try to insinuate there is. They make sure to make everything blasphemous. Mocking their own beliefs and religion, yet staying religious at the same time.

I loved that:

Mullah bhi sunn lay, azadi
Ansar bhi sunn lay, azad
Orya bhi sunn lay, azadi

But blasphemy. Imposed and forged one. Hence. How many lives have to be destroyed with this card? Why is there no counter argument to argument?

And even while imposing blasphemy, you are using utterly disgraceful words. One tweet is quoting Quran, and very next one is with the ugliest words against women. How do you even write the two together? Isn’t this blasphemy?

Why don’t you see blasphemy when kids are raped inside and outside madrassahs?

Why don’t you see blasphemy when underage girls are married to elderly men or to the Quran? Or when girls are converted by force?

Why don’t you see blasphemy when children are raped and murdered and dumped? Can you tell me the number of such incidents on 8th March? No. Because you were focusing on where you were not invited.

Why don’t you see blasphemy when every single drama ridicules the norms of the society and specifically targets one gender to be miserable, pathetic, and succumbing to unseen threats of abuse?

By the way, there are some women to blame too. There were women in the Aurat March who were loudly shouting slogans, but these are the same women who play the miserably pathetic characters in TV dramas and soap operas. This is hypocrisy as well. When you are being paid, you go for any character that demeans and insults your own gender. And the next day, you are out with exactly the opposite narrative. Wrong. You don’t sell out for anything when you are fighting a war.

So, ladies, ignore and stand corrected. This year was better. The banners and placards were better. There was less controversial stuff this year; until the herd forged things to impose blasphemy.

This blasphemy is an industry. Like war. People have made fortunes on it. It works as bribery and is an ultimate kit to kill anyone, anywhere. Now it’s after the whole gender who came out for a day in a year. Make it semi-annually. Then quarterly. Then monthly.

There is an existential crises since the beginning. Men of this part of the world have to realize yet that women exist. And breathe. And have needs.

Women exist. Blasphemy doesn’t.

Guys, have some sense and some self-respect. Nothing of yours has been challenged except your trespassing. Nothing is being taken away from you except what wasn’t yours. Have a better focus. Make the kids safe. Make underage women safe. Make trans community safe. Make better laws for people. End the laws of wanni and karo kari. End honor killings. End forced marriages. End this denial of ‘all is good.’ Because nothing is.

End this hypocrisy.

And disagree where you may.

Not in the mood to jump into labyrinths of topics in a single post. But will surely come back and will spake like Zarathustra.

Azadi!